Bottle capping and sealing machine.



A. WESTLAKE. BOTTLE CAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE. APPUCATION mm ma. 25.ms. ammo nun 31,1911.

1,25%,377. Patented Jan .1,191&.

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a Q/Qd My A. WESTLAKE. BOTTLE CAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE. APPLICATIONFILED FEB- 25, I916- RENEWED 1ULY3I, I911.

1,25 377, Patented Jan.1,191&

' 5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. A. WESTLAKE.v BOTTLE CAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILEDFEB. 25, I916- RENEWED mm 31', 1911.

1,%%,377, Patented Jan. 1, 191g.

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WESTLAKE. BOTTLE CAPPING AND SEAL-INGMACHINE. I APPLICATION FILED HB-25, 1916- RENEWED JULY 31. I917- 1 ,-5,3?7, I Patented Jan. 1,1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

by 40 Atty WWW/ 4 inventor:

A. WESTLAKE. BOTTLE CAPPING AND SEALING MACHINE. APPLICATION men FEB.25. 1916. n'cuzww JULY 3!, 1911.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

Patented Jan. 1,1918

m inventor:

- water, drugs, preserves ALBERT WESTLAKE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORTO THE SANSEAL CORPORATION,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

\ BOTTLE OAPZPING AND SEALING MACHIHE.

Application filed-February 25, 1916, Serial No. 80,8

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT WESTLAKE, a citizen of the United States,and,,a resident of the city, county, and State of New ,York, haveinvented certain new and useful Im-- provements in Bottle Capping. andSealing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machinery which is used in the rapid sealing ofa continuous succession of bottles or other containers. This involvesthe seizing, one at a time, of the necessary capping disks or othersealing materials from a constantly replenished supply, subjecting thesame to suitable treatment-to adapt them for application as closureseals and thereafter applying them to the bottle or other receptacle insuch a way as to secure the proper and desired sealing.

More particularly the present invention, which is an outgrowth of themachine shown and described in my Patent No. 1,137,820, dated May 4,1915, has reference to that s stem of closure operations which isdesigned to furnish and meet the requirements of what is known as asingle service container, by which term is generally understood a bottleor other container or receptacle which is intended to be used only oncein the condition in which it is put npon the market. In other words,when once opene the container and seal or closure cannot be reassembled.Such portions of the package, for instance a glass bottle, as may bedesired for further use are collected and returned to the manufacturerwhile the undesirable parts, for instance the paper cap, are thrown awayor destroyed. Where both container and cap are of fibrous material it ispreferable that no portion should be preservedafter once used. 1

It will be understood that my present invention is not limited to anyparticular class of merchandise or to any particular form or materialofcontainer but is applicable to all such articles as milk, spring andpickles, as are more satisfactorily marketed in such a way that thecontents are protected against tamperingb'y reason of the fact that theconnection between the closure device and the container cannot berestored without detection when once severed.

I In the accompanying drawings 1 have Specification of Letters Patent.

, disks, to remove Patented Jan. a, rare.

as. Renewed m 31, 1917. Serial at. 183,816.

selected a milk bottle as the container to-be sealed because theprotection of milk in transit from the bottle to the consumer is ofstriking importance with a view to health, cleanliness and theprevention of adultera tion or dilution and spread of disease.

In my said patent of May 4, 1915, 1 have shown a bottle as presented tothe capping unit by means of a rotar table. In the present drawings Ihave illilstrated an endless chain feed instead of the rotary table.

The object of my present invention is to provide a bottle capping andsealing machine of simpler and stronger construction and of greatercapacity, efiiciency and power.-

This machine 15 preferably, entirely auto matic so that the attendanthas only to the feeding stack supplied with sealing the filled andcapped bottles and substitutefresh and full bottles. Where occasionrequires however, the mechanism can be. operated by hand power or footpower.

Figure 1 is a front elevation.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view taken at a point at the right (facingFig. 1) approximately 120 degrees from the center of the front.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view taken from a point at the left (facingFig. 1) a proximately 120 degrees from the center 0 Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a top plan.

Fig. 5 is a substantially central vertical section.

keep

a detail to bring out more clearly Same letters indicate similar, partsin the diiierent drawings.

A, A, represent machine upon which mounted.

B, is a motor from which power is derived and transmitted to the variousparts of the machine.

G, is a stack or feed cylinder in which are piled the sealing disks forcapping the bottles as hereinafter explained. I

D, is aheating and sterilizing oven in which the disks are detained fora fixed length of time during their, passage from the feed cylinder tothe bottle.

E, is the plunger head or capping tool by the action'ot which the diskis molded around the mouth. of the bottle.

the frame work of the the moving parts are F, is a table upon which themilk bottles are placed. and along which they are fed to and from thecapping plunger.

is a rotating capping and carrying frame which cooperates inturn withthe feed cylinder, the heating oven and the plunger head inthesuccessive steps. of the sealing and capping operation.

H, H,'indicate a series of bottles in position, traveling along thetable F, the center bottle being directly under the capping tool.

I, I, I, I, represent carrier .disk rings mounted upon the frame Gtioned that the rotation of the frame G brings one disk ring directlyunder the plunger, another directly-under the oven and a third under thefeed slide at the same instant.

'J, (Fig. 4) is a feed slide by which the disks are slipped one at atime from the bottom of the feed cylinder and deposited upon the propercarrier disk ring.

K, is a counterbalance weight by means of Which the operating mechanismis enabled to accommodate itself to variations in pressure during thecontinuous capping and sealing operations.

These are the more prominent features of my improved machine and thepower for operating all of these parts is derived from the motor B,through various mechanical devices of which convenient and practicaltypes are shown in the drawings, but which may be modified or varied asdesired, and as will be readily understood by persons skilled in theart. 1

All the operations of my improved ma- .chine are timed with reference toeach other so that the complete cycle of operations beginning with thepicking out of a sealing disk from the stack C, and ending with thedelivery of a capped and sealed bottle will be performed regularly forach fixed period during the running of the machine, This period. for themachine shown in the drawings I preferably fix at about ten seconds, sothat a fresh bottle fully and effectively capped is delivered by thetable F every ten seconds.

The motor B is mounted upon a shaft a,

which we will call the motor shaft and which is supported by thebrackets b, 11,

secured to the base of the frame A.

This motor shaft carries a pinion c which meshes with a toothed gear d.(Fig. 5) on a worm shaft a, journaled in the brackets 6", b fastenedupon the stem of the framework. This worm shaft carries the worm 'e,which engages the worm wheel L, mountted. on the cam shaft 0, journaledin the frame work.. This cam shaft carries the cam M, which acts uponthe roller f and by the displacement of this cam all the operations ofthe capping and sealing mechanism are brought about. 7

and so posirotate intermittently by means lower end of the compoundlever N and is held away from the cam by the weight of upper end of saidlever, subject to the equalizing efiect produced by the counterbalanceweight K.

The to and fro movement of the lower'arm of the lever N is utilized toreciprocate the plunger head E and thereby operate all the other drivendevices as follows:

The lever is pivoted as at g to the bracket 5 and the upper end isconnected by the link it, pivoted to it at g, to the elbow lever 0 atg".- This elbow leverO is pivoted at g to thegbrackct b and the otherend at g to one branch of the counterbalance lever P upon the shaft athe outer end of which carries the counterbalance weight K, while theinner end at g? is pivoted to the lower end of the plunger headoperating rod Q. This'rod extends vertically through the casing E, uponwhich the plunger head is 'the various devices and mechanisms operatedby the mounted and is adjustably connected therewith by the screwsupport 2'. down thrust of this rod Q thus reciprocates the casing E andthe plunger or capping tool .E the necessary distance to effect theproper capping and releasing of the bottle which is capped and sealedthereby.

The rotating carrier frame G is caused to of a rack j,

The up and secured to the plunger casing move up and down therewith.This rack meshes with a segmental gear d, mounted on a rock shaft ajournaled in brackets secured to the stem of the frame A and, in theform shown in the drawings, adapted to receive a quarter turn to and frofor each reciprocation of the casing E and having a locking pin is.

This rock shaft a carries a pawl l (Fig.-

6.) which engages'one oflthe teeth of the.

four toothed ratchet wheel m, loosely mounted on the rock shaft a.Secured to this ratchet wheel is afgear wheel d", Which meshes with agear 03 on the shaft a journaled in brackets secured to the frame A. Theshaft 1 carries a beveled gear n, which engages a beveled gear 11. onthe rotating carrier frameG. Itwill thus be seen that each reciprocationof the. rock shaft a com.- municates a quarter turn to the carrier frameG, by means of the pawl Z, ratchet m, toothed gears d", d and beveledgears n and n; and that this intermittent quarter turn occurs for eachcomplete reciprocation of the plunger head E.

The rotary carrier G is shown in the drawing) with ceiving andsupporting rings I, I, I, I.

These four rings I, I, I, I, are arranged around the rotary carrier G atequal dis tances from. each other and extend outwardly a suflicientdistance to bring each provided (as four disks re- E so as to' ryingwheels m, each of the elevator plates teeth t (Fig. 3

each reciprocation, of the slide;

mounted respectively on "2, 3, and 6) secured to disk ring in successionunder the'feed slide J (Fig. 1) and subsequently under the oven D andplunger head E,-as the carrier G revolves. These disk rings have anopening through them sufliciently large to permit the passage of theelevator plates 0, o', (Fig. 1) the stems p, p','but small enough topermit a sealing disk to rest upon the disk ring during its travel? Theupper surface of these rings is provided with grooves which co-act withthe sealing fingers in securing a regular and perfect capping of thebottle in theusual man'- ner.--

The function of the elevator plate 0 is to receive a capping diskdelivered to it by the feed slide J immediately 'above the disk ring Iand deposit the same in its descent upon said ring. The function of theelevator plate 0 is to lift the sealing disk from that disk ring whichis immediately under the oven D and carry it into the oven where it isheated to the proper temperature; after which said plate brings saidheated disk downand deposits it on said disk ring by which it is thenconveyed to the plunger head.

The reciprocation of these plates 0, 0, is caused by a rock shaft analed on the frame work A and driven by an arm 9, mounted on said shaftand carrying at its outer end a roller 1' (Fig. 5), which is engaged bya suitable lug on the bottom of the rack 7, which causes the shaft a torock against the tension of a spring 8, kFigs-Q. and 6) fastened to theframeA.

, t each end of the rock shaft (1 is an armg" I rovidedat its upper endwith teetli t. hese teeth mesh respectively with pinions 0' on shafts a,journal'ed in brack ets attached to the frame Work A and carof whichcarries a steel band 8', attached to the stem p or p 0, 0 respectively;These stems p, p, are supported by and slide vertically in the bracketsb b (Figs. the frame Work A.

The feed slide J is made to travel from the bottom of'the stack C to theadjacent disk rin I, as follows: v

The eed slide (Fig. 4) travels in the guide way or track u and isprovided with on the under side, which mesh with .a pinion 0'', shown'in dotted lines in Fig. 4 on shaft a This shaft carries another pinioncwhich, as shown 1n-=Figs.'2 and 3 is driven by a rack 7''. secured tothe plunger-head E.I The capping disks are pressed downward by theweight 4; and the function. of the slide is to receive and carry awaythe lowest disk at The feedingof the bottles H is accom- 7 plished byatravelingapron 'R, which travels over and'around the table F. Thisapron R (Fig. 6) our- 7 apron is provided with a series of angularholders 1/), 'w, the function of which is to steady the bottles as they.stand upon and are fed along by the traveling apron.

the point where the bottles come succes-. sively under the capping toolE, the table is-provided with an. open'spring holding device 8', whichsteadles and centers the bottle, but which is opened by the forwardpressure of the bottle to allow it to pass on after it has been capped.The proper tension and traveling of the is secured by the sprockets -S,S, S, and S, of which the sprockets S are idlers and the sprocket Ssprocket. This sprocket is mounted on the shaft a", mounted on thebracket I), dependin from the table F and carryin a bevele gear 71/(Fig.- 3) which mes es with and is turned by beveled gear n (Fig.

4) on one end of the jointed crank rod T, on the other end of which is abeveled gear a. This beveled gear and crank rod derive their motion fromthe beveled gearn' on the rotary carrier G, as before stated. It Will beunderstood that in this way an intermittent feed is communicated to theapron R, each step of which corresponds to a quarter turn of thecarrier, so timed as to bring a fresh bottle in position to be cappedwhen the plunger E is ready todescend and cap it. i

U, is a dating device mounted near the disk stack C and constructed sothat thedating stamp operated thereby descends and imprints the date oneach disk as it is brought under said stamp by the feed slide J on itsWay from the stack C to the disk ring I.

V, is a rheostat by which the power of the current which drives themotor B is regulated as desired.

As .before stated the various details of devices andmechanisms to bringabout the desired steps of operationare only given as types of apractical character and may be largely varied without departing from thespirit of my invention. v

The complete operation of my improved machine, as.will be readilyunderstood, is briefly as follows The stack C being supplied withsealing disks and a full bottle being placed on the table F, as shown inFig. 1 (H) to the extreme right of the plunger head E, the machine isstarted by turning the lever of the rheostat V to transmit the desiredcurrent to the motor B.

The revolution of the motor shaft is com-- municated through the pinion0, to the gear d. worm shaft a, worm-e. worm. wheel Lv and cam shaft ato the cam M. The revolution of this cam displaces the roller f,

thus reciprocating the plunger head orcappingtool E and plunger "headcasing la',

. that when by means of the rack through which by means of the compoundlever N, elbow lever O, counterbalance lever P and operating rod Q. Theplunger'head E descends and caps the bottle immediately under it, if, asshown in Fig. 1, a bottle Is there together with a sealing disk readyfor application. It will be readily understood the machine is firststarted the first three descents of the plunger head will take place,before the first bottle H has reached it, but that when the machine'isre-started all the descents of the plunger ma be utilized in capping.

s the slide J is pushed from under the stack 0 j, pinion 0 shaft a teetht. The feed slide carpinion c and p With it a sealing disk from thebotrying tom of the stack travels along the guide Way u, under thedating stamp U and over the disk ring I and'elevator plate 0, said feedslide opening itsjaws and depositing the sealing disk upon said elevatorplate. As the plunger descends the the feed slide and synchronously theelevator plate 0' deposits upon the disk ring I,

it travels, a heateddisk received from the oven in $11116 oven when theplate began its descent.

reviousl ex lained are derived from the p y p ger head casing r, armrock pinion c shaft and stems p, p. v

The rotary carrier G now makesa. uarter turn, derivingits motion fromthe p unger head, casing E, by means of the rack j,.seg-

E, from the rack j, roller shaft a, arnrg, teeth It, a", wheels steelbands s' mental gear d, rock shaft a, pawl Z, ratchet m, gears dad shaft0. "n, n. The result of this move the disk rin received from the F test;to move the disk ring which was at rest to a position under oven D andover the elevator plate 0'; ,to move the diskring and beveled gearsquarter turn is to which carriesthe disk which was under th oven to aposition di-.'

p unger head E, and'torectly under the move the disk ring which wasunder the plunger head to'a position directly over the elevator plate'0, ready to receive the next 'feedingdisk from the feed slide J.

Meanwhile the bottle carrying apron R has been fed a step at a time tobrm the bottles in succession underthe plunger cad, r the rotary carrierG, thFo'i1ghthe-beveled gears n','n, jointed as bottles are sealingdisks are provided to cap them.

plunger head 'E ascends, the feed It will thus be seen that while thegeneral feed slide is returned to'its 1n1tial position under the. feedstack, prepared to receive another D, it there was a disk I e up anddown movements of these ele-- vator plates, "as

reciprocation of the plum-- which comprises a eed slide to a position of,crank rod T, beveled gears n and n", shaft a and sprocket S.

It will thus be seen that all the upward movements of the elevator plate0 (beginning with the third) carry a sealing disk into the oven D gerhead'E (beginning withthe fourth from the initial start'of the machine)cap a bottle with a heated sealing disk. This process continuesautomatically as long as t e current is on to operate the motor and aslong provided .to be capped and principle and character of the abovedethe more important operating devices whereby I have secured a morepowerful -and ef- I fective and at the same time a much simpler machine.I

The detailed construction of the various parts which may be calledspecific-features, as for instance the dating de'vice U, the internalarrangements of the oven D, the details of the capping tool, etc., Idonot claim herein. 7

I claim 1. A bottle capping and sealing machine which comprises acapping tool, a heating oven, a disk supplying device, a feed slidewhereby'sealing disks} are taken from said disk supplying devicelanddelivered tothe rotary carrier, a rotary carrier whereby saiddisks areconveyed to said heating oven .and' capping tool, and a bottle conveyer.whereby bottles are supplied in continuous succession to and conveyedaway fromsaid capping tool. 1 Y

2. A bottle capping and sealing machine capping tool, a heatin oven, adisk supplying device, a feedslide whereby sealing'disks are taken fromsaid disk supplying device and delivered to the rotary carrier, a rotarycarrier whereby said disks. are conveyed to said heating oven.

and capping tool, a bottle conveyer whereb bottles are supplied to saidcappm too, and operating mechanism whereby t e op-.

erations of said devices are so harmonized bed machine are the same asof the machine shown in my. prior patent above and all descents of theplunas to cap and seal a continuous succession of receptacles. j

. 3. A bottle capping and sealing machlne which comprises a cappingtool, a heating oven, a dis supplying device, a feed slide wherebysealing disks are taken from saiddisk-supplying device and delivered tothe rotary carrier, a rotary carrierwhereby said disks are conveyed tosaid heating oven and capping tool,

a bottle conveyenwhereby bot -tles aresupplied to said cappmgjooh'and voperating. mechanism whereby the intermlttent operations of saiddevicesareso har- 13o monized as to cap and seal a continuous succession ofreceptacles. v

4. A bottle capping and sealing machine which comprises a capping tool,a heating oven, a disk supplying device, a feed slide whereby sealingdisks are taken from said disk supplying device and delivered to therotary carrier, a rotary carrier whereby said disks are conveyed to saidheating oven and capping tool,' elevating devices which serve asintervening conveyers whereby the disks are passed from said feed slideto said carrier and to and fro between said carrier and said heatingoven respectively, and a bottle conveyer whereby bottles are supplied in15 continuous succession to and conveyed away from said capping tool.

ALBERT WESTLAKE.

Witnesses:

M. DAVEY, W. P. PREBLE.

